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Thursday, March 18, 2010

Avgolemono - Greek Lemon Chicken Soup

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...If you're looking for a soup to span the seasons, I suspect you'll love this light chicken soup that's patterned after Avgolemono, a Greek soup made with chicken, rice and lemon broth. I've taken some real shortcuts with this recipe. Busy folks will love them, but they'll cost me points in my quest to earn a "foodie" merit badge. I hope you share my dislike of that word. It makes me downright uncomfortable. Someone, several years ago, decided there was an unpleasant class connotation associated with the words gourmet and gourmand. They, whoever "they" might be, wanted a word that spoke to the common man and the great unwashed. In a flash of brilliance, they plucked the word "foodie" from the rarefied atmosphere surrounding them and the era of the gourmet was put to rest. Those who love to cook and eat, and love other people who love to cook and eat, smiled and carried on, sure in the knowledge that the games and self-importance would continue unabated. I suspect we'll always remain on the outside looking in. We take shortcuts, make substitutions and listen more to table banter than the words of the current culinary super star. We - I - am a mess! I cook for fun, but I want my fun to be part of a life that revolves around more than food. I need great recipes, but I need shortcuts that make them feasible for my kitchen and family. Now here's where I'm going to get myself in trouble. I love deli chickens and canned broth. I love pre-minced garlic and, yes, I love frozen vegetables. The thing is, I want to consume my food rather than have it consume me. Now, if you want to make this soup from scratch I'll be the first to salute you. I did that once myself, and it was wonderful. It just wasn't necessary. What is necessary, is using the right kind of rice. Hopefully, you'll have access to (sushi)pearl or arborio rice. If not, use anything that works for you, save for instant or converted rice. The rice helps thicken the soup and give it its lovely creamy color. Don't overcook it. While I prefer to use fresh lemon juice for the soup, there have been occasions when I've used the bottled variety, and I'm happy to report the world didn't end. This is a very light soup and I think it works best for lunch. It takes about 30 minutes to prepare. Here's the recipe.

Directions:1) Bring chicken broth to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in rice, lower heat and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Add chicken and simmer for 5 minutes longer.2) Meanwhile, whisk egg whites in a small bowl until they are frothy. Stir in yolks and lemon juice and whisk to combine.3) Remove 1 cup of broth from soup. Slowly whisk it into egg mixture. Add another cup of broth in the same manner. Remove soup from heat and pour egg mixture into it. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with parsley and serve hot. Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Good morning. The soup looks like sunshine! Just wanted to let you know that the Irish Soda Bread was/is delicious. Thank you so much for posting the recipe. It gave me the little push I needed. Oh, and my husband thanks you too.

Here,here, here! Bravo on this fantastic post. I fully agree with all of it. Yes, if you use good quality products the food police should just back off :)! I have seen this recipe several times in the past , however I've never gotten around to trying it. Now I have a reason to. Thank you for the inspiration. Looks wonderful,sounds even better.

This soup looks wonderful and I'm looking forward to making it. I'd never heard the term "foodie" until I started blogging & posting my recipes. Then I thought am I one too? What is it? Thanks for the definition :) Again, this soup looks delightful.

Hi Mary,This sounds delicious. I have never met a soup I didn't like and this one looks to be no exception. I have never had Avgolemono soup and this will be a definite must try...thanks so much for sharing your good tastes.

I think a huge part of learning to cook at home is figuring out where you can cut corners and where you can't. I'm a big fan of boxed chicken broth and even frozen veggies on occasion. And I am NOT ashamed of that. This soup looks so light and delicious...love the infusion of lemon.

I have always wanted to try this soup. It looks delicious!I am a firm believer in AND. We keep dry pasta and make fresh. Homemade stock and store bought. Cartons of ice cream and fresh churned...It is good to have the ability to make a quicker meal when you need to.

I have been dying to make this soup ever since trying a pork dish at a local restaurant with an amazing 'Avgolemono' inspired sauce. I could literally drink the stuff it's so delicious. And YES - I love you standing up for shortcuts. They're okay sometimes. In fact I'd rather cook more with them than cook less without them:)

First, a great soup and one Ihave everything I need to make. So we may be seeing this soon.

Next... You know this already, but you are a genius. My flous was too dense. I sifted, used less and the bread I made today came out great... Thanks for the tip..

As to foodie. i feel like I can almost claim that title... Ages (and I don;t have that much time left) before I would dream of using a word like gourmet to describe me. But, it is semantics and I have been called worse.

Great recipe, Mary. I'm with you on the use of shortcuts to a point. Of course, I have more free time,so I can afford to be a "foodie", but I would recommend adding a piece of onion,carrot and celery to the canned broth and simmering it for awhile before you use it. It freshens the taste. Also, I prefer Swanson's, how about you?

I don't take umbrage with the word "foodie", though words ending in "ie" tend to be dimunitive; gourmet is a little too high brow for a hillbilly like me, though I think. We need to come up with another word.

I have been thinking of making this soup for a long time but have procrastinated. This version sounds wonderful.

Hello Mary, I'm trying to play catch-up on your blog and wonderful recipes. Avgolemono, one of my favorite soups; my Mother worked for a Greek man when I was growing up and perhaps that is why I love Greek food. I have made the soup several times as he did, but this looks like a very fine time saver. Thank you.

I just made this for dinner tonight. I would recommend less rice, maybe 1/4c and modify the lemon juice to your taste. I thought the lemon flavor was a bit too strong. I really did like the soup we ate it with crunchy bread.

My girlfriend had a Greek friend who taught her this recipe, of course it was from scatch and in the 60's. She and i would make this soup often. I love shortcuts also ,but boiling chicken to make chicken stock is so easy and not time consuming since chicken can simmer in 30 minutes or less. I always have more broth then I need, so I freeze it for soup like this.

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